Taylor Alert – Southport killer Axel Rudakubana’s guilty pleas cause ‘surprise and shock’ as police release mugshot: Recap

Thanks for following our live coverage today as we wrap up our live updates here.

Earlier today the Southport killer Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the murders of three girls, Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar last summer.

The admission came on what was scheduled to be the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court where he faced 16 charges in total including attempted murder and possession of a terror manual.

Families of the victims were not in the court at the time he pleaded guilty as a judge admitted they believed it would start tomorrow.

Although this page will be closing, there remains plenty of content on the website.

Many thanks for joining us today, we shall be back for Rudakubana’s sentencing hearing on Thursday at Liverpool Crown Court.

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If you’re just joining us this afternoon, we have reported live updates after teenage child killer Axel Rudakubana admitted to the murders of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport last summer.

Rudakubana pleaded guilty to all 16 charges he was faced with on the first day of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court after previously denying murder.

Now he has issued his guilty pleas, more information about the attacker has come to light. Here’s what you need to know:

• Rudakubana was ‘planning UK’s first high school massacre’ but was stopped by his dad a week before the murders
• He was referred to government’s counter-extremism programme THREE times before bloody attack on Merseyside
• Rudakubana tried to harm teachers and attacked fellow pupils with a hockey stick
• He was ‘absolutely obsessed’ with the Rwandan genocide and had personal link after Tutsi parents were forced to flee the country following outbreak of mass killings by Hutu-dominated regime.
• Nigel Farage has accused the Labour government and police of an ‘astonishing cover up’ as he vowed to raise questions about Rudakubana in Parliament

A neighbour of the Southport killer claims his ricin hoarde poisoned her cat – and the police lied to her about the deadly discovery.

Caroline McDonald said CID officers called at her home to say her cat, Jo-Jo, had entered Axel Rudakubana’s family home and back garden as they searched for the poison.

Within hours, her pet had suffered a seizure and died the next day after vets feared he had been poisoned.

Caroline emailed the police asking if any harmful substances had been found at the suspect’s property, and the next day a police inspector called at her house stating nothing dangerous had been found.

Rudakubana, 18, was later charged with terror offences after an Al-Qaeda manual and ricin were found at his home, in Banks.

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It is still not known why Rudakubana singled out the Taylor Swift-themed children’s dance workshop held by dance teacher Leanne Lucas, which was advertised on Instagram.

On the day of the killings, Rudakubana donned the identical outfit he wore a week earlier when it is believed he was planning to attack a school, with a hood pulled up over his head and face covered by a surgical mask.

Leaving his home at 11.10am, and armed with the same fearsome blade, he then booked a taxi to take him to the Ms Lucas’s sell-out event in Hart Street (pictured).

Within half an hour, two children, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, and Bebe King, six, were dead, nine more children and two adults left fighting for their lives and dozens more lives were ruined – while Rudakubana was under arrest.

One of the critically-injured children, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, later died in hospital early the next morning.

Violence and disorder broke out on streets across the UK in the days following the Southport murders.

Take a look below with our video:

More from Nigel Farage who claimed authorities engaged in a ‘gigantic cover-up’ over the Southport child murders, as it emerged the killer had been cleared by counter-extremism experts three times.

The Reform leader lashed out at Sir Keir Starmer and police, saying the public had been ‘denied the truth’ about Axel Rudakubana’s motives and background.

Authorities may have missed several attempts to stop Rudakubana before he murdered three children and attempted to murder eight other youngsters and two adults in Southport last summer when he was aged just 17.

The Mail has learnt that authorities knew of his disturbing interest in a school massacre as far back as 2019.

In 2019 he was referred to the Government’s deradicalisation scheme Prevent on the basis that he had been researching on a school computer for information about the killing of children in school shootings.

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Reform UK will ask Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to appear in Parliament and account for why Axel Rudakubana’s terror links were not revealed sooner, Nigel Farage has said.

Mr Farage told the PA news agency:

I asked that question 24 hours after the murders. I said why are we not being told the truth? Was this man known to the authorities? We were met with a complete wall of silence. The Prime Minister and the Home Secretary refused to engage, Liverpool police refused to engage.

There was nothing about what I asked that would have in any way threatened contempt of court. This is basic background information that the public was entitled to. I was accused by mainstream media publications and senior politicians of stoking and encouraging the riots, when actually the riots were happening because of the vacuum of information and crazy conspiracy theories gaining traction online.

He added:

I think that the Government are responsible for the most astonishing cover-up. I think that we need an apology from the Home Secretary and an explanation as to why we have been denied the basic truth.

Asked if he would be raising this in the Commons, Mr Farage replied: ‘We will, as a party, table an urgent question on this. Absolutely.’

Axel Rudakubana is not expected to be handed a whole life order when he is sentenced on Thursday for the Southport attacks.

A whole life order is a sentence considered for the most serious crimes which means prisoners will die in jail.

They will never be considered for release unless there are exceptional compassionate grounds to warrant it.

But it is understood judges can only impose a whole life order on criminals who were aged 21 and over at the time of the offence, with the punishment only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.

Rudakubana was 17 years old when he murdered three girls and tried to kill several others in a rampage at a dance class in Southport in July.

Nigel Farage has told the Telegraph there was a ‘gigantic cover up from day one’ of the Southport murders as he pointed the finger at Sir Keir Starmer and the police.

The Reform leader (pictured here with Conor McGregor) said the public had been ‘denied the truth’ over the killings and that his right to speak about the crimes in Parliament was ‘taken away’.

Speaking from Washington D.C. where he is attending the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, Mr Farage told the Telegraph:

I was pretty certain from what I had been told very early on that this was a terrorist-related attack. I wanted to ask questions in Parliament about what the authorities knew about this man, but my rights of parliamentary privilege were taken away and I was not allowed to say anything, which is extraordinary. I wasn’t even allowed to ask any questions in Parliament, and the suggestion that it was because of ongoing court proceedings is completely wrong.

This reflects very badly on the Prime Minister. We have been denied the truth on this by the police and the Government, it is disgraceful. There has been a gigantic cover up from day one, the authorities knew very very quickly about his expulsion from school, the ricin making and the Al-Qaeda material, yet they refused to class the murders as terror related for fear of the reaction there might have been.

At 11 years old, Rudakubana appeared dressed as Doctor Who in a television advert for BBC Children In Need, after being recruited through a casting agency, it is understood.

The now-deleted clip shows him leaving the Tardis wearing a trench coat and tie to look like the show’s former star David Tennant and offering advice on how best to raise money.

See the video below:

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was personally linked through his parents to the Rwandan genocide, an event that is said to have fascinated him.

The 18-year-old, who today pleaded guilty to the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport, was raised by two church-going Rwandan parents in Cardiff before the family moved to the north west of England.

Rudakubana was ‘absolutely obsessed’ with genocide, one official was quoted as saying, adding that the subject was ‘all he wanted to talk about’.

The killer has a connection with the genocide in Rwanda through his parents, who were both Tutsi and were forced to flee the country following the outbreak of mass killings by the Hutu-dominated regime.

His taxi driver father, Alphonse, is thought to have fought with the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), an armed force that fought the Hutu government and eventually brought an end to the murders.

The 49-year-old is said to have been an officer in the RPA, which was based in nearby Uganda, according to the Guardian, with one source telling the newspaper that he acquired significant military experience.

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Merseyside Police have released the first photo of Axel Rudakubana following his guilty pleas earlier today.

Rudakubana will remain in custody until his sentencing on Thursday.

Southport knife attacker Axel Rudakubana is feared to have been planning Britain’s first high school massacre a week earlier but was talked out of going to the building by his father, it can be revealed.

Armed with a large kitchen knife the teenager wore a green hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask as he left his home to a waiting taxi. It would be the same outfit he chose to wear when he went on his murderous rampage in Southport on July 29.

But his father Alphonse ran out after him and pleaded with the taxi driver not to take him on the 15-mile journey from the family home in Banks, Lancashire, to Range High School, in Formby, Merseyside.

An eyewitness said: ‘There was a confrontation and Rudakubana was eventually persuaded to leave the vehicle.’

There is no suggestion his father knew what he is believed to have been planning at the school.

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Southport child-killer Axel Rudakubana was referred to the counter-extremism programme Prevent three times during a childhood in which he showed violent tendencies.

Authorities may have missed several attempts to stop Rudakubana before he murdered three children and attempted to murder eight other youngsters and two adults in Blackpool last summer when he was aged just 17.

The Mail has learnt that authorities knew of his disturbing interest in a school massacre as far back as 2019.

In 2019 he was referred to the Government’s deradicalisation scheme Prevent on the basis that he had been researching on a school computer for information about the killing of children in school shootings.

But experts deemed that there was no counter terrorism risk at the time as he was considered not to be motivated by a terrorist ideology.

The Guardian reported he was also referred twice in 2021 after viewing material about the 20217 London terror attack.

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Southport ‘will never be the same’ after three girls were murdered at a dance class in the town last summer, the MP has said.

Patrick Hurley, the MP for Southport, told BBC Radio 5 Live there is ‘surprise and shock’ across the town after Axel Rudakubana, who was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court today, changed his pleas to guilty after having previously denied murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

Mr Hurley said:

The community has been healing, the town will obviously never be the same as it has been prior to July. There is surprise and shock at the development this morning but we are all hoping throughout the town that the families get the justice and the outcome they need.

Everybody across the town and the families who are most closely involved and the families of the victims were bracing themselves for the next four weeks. It was never going to be an easy time for anybody here.

Axel Rudakubana’s terrifying and deadly knife rampage was not the first time he had launched a violent assault on young children, it can now be revealed.

Billed as a stage school ‘superstar’ when he appeared as Doctor Who in a BBC Children in Need advert aged only 11, the first chilling warning took place just two years later.

When he was about 13, a hooded Rudakubana burst into his school while barred from the premises for bringing in a knife, brandished a hockey stick he had produced from his backpack and began attacking pupils.

The raging future killer was only disarmed after being bravely overpowered by a teacher.

At the time of the hockey stick attack, Rudakubana – born in Cardiff to parents who moved to the UK from Rwanda – had been suspended for bringing a knife into Range High School in Formby, former classmates told the Mail.

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We’ve now got some reaction to Axel Rudakubana’s unexpected guilty pleas at Liverpool Crown Court.

Speaking outside court, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle (pictured) said:

This was an unspeakable attack – one which left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness. At the start of the school holidays, a day which should have been one of carefree innocence; of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.

It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence. He has shown no sign of remorse. The prosecution was determined to prove his guilt and I am deeply grateful that today’s plea has spared the families at the heart of this case the pain of having to relive their ordeal through a trial.

Today, our thoughts are with all those whose lives were altered by what happened on that day. Most of all, we think of Elsie, Bebe, and Alice – the three beautiful young girls whose lives were cut short – and wish strength and courage to the families who loved and cherished them.

Reform leader Nigel Farage has reacted to today’s change of pleas to ask whether more information about the teenager will now come to light.

Mr Farage, who is in Washington to witness Donald Trump’s inauguration, raised questions about the Southport attacks in the wake of the murders.

Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to a terrorism offence relating to a PDF file entitled Military Studies In The Jihad Against The Tyrants, The Al Qaeda Training Manual.

He is said to have possessed the document between August 29, 2021 and July 30, 2024.

The 180-page document, also known as the ‘Manchester manual’, was found by police on a computer in a flat in Cheetham Hill in Manchester in May 2000, more than a year before 9/11.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad, then known as SO13, arrested a man called Abu Anas al-Libi as part of Operation Challenge, an investigation with the FBI into the 1998 truck bomb attacks on US embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200 people.

Libi, real name Nazih Abdul-Hamed Nabih al-Ruqaii, had moved to the UK five years earlier. He was released 48-hours later and managed to evade a surveillance team sent to follow him.

Al-Libi was not re-captured until October 2013 when he was tracked down in Tripoli after the fall of Col Muammar Gaddafi. He was sent to New York to stand trial but died of liver disease while in custody in January 2015.

Let’s remind ourselves of the three victims who were brutally murdered at the hands of Rudakubana in Southport on July 29 last years.

The killings of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, horrified the nation and led to trouble flaring in Southport and on the streets across UK towns and cities.

• Bebe

Bebe was described by Marshside Primary School, where she was a pupil, as one of our brightest and most wonderful shining stars.

Speaking at the time, her family said: ‘no words can describe the devastation that has hit our family as we try to deal with the loss of our little girl Bebe.’

• Elsie

Elsie Dot Stancombe, a pupil at Farnborough Road Infant School, was described as a ‘caring and charismatic young lady who loved to please’ by her school.

Headteacher Jennifer Sephton said Elsie had been a ‘loving and bright member of our wonderful community’.

• Alice

The family of Alice said in a tribute: ‘Keep smiling and dancing like you love to do our Princess, like we said before to you, you’re always our princess and no one would change that. Love from Your Hero Daddy and Mummy.’

Portuguese minister Jose Cesario said his government would support the family in wake of her death.

Below is a full timeline of the Southport stabbings case and the court appearances of Axel Rudakubana until his guilty pleas at Liverpool Crown Court today:

• 2002: Rudakubana’s father Alphonse moves to the UK from Rwanda, according to an interview he gave to his local newspaper in Southport in 2015.
• August 7, 2006: Rudakubana is born in Cardiff, Wales.
• 2013: The family – including Rudakubana’s father, mother and older brother – move from Wales to Banks in Lancashire, a few miles from Southport.
• July 29, 2024: Shortly before midday, a knifeman enters a dance class at The Hart Space in Hart Street in Southport. Bebe, Elsie and Alice are fatally wounded. Eight other children are injured, as are instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes. Police say they have detained a male and seized a knife. Within hours, claims spread online that the suspect is an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat in 2023. Some claims include an alleged identity.
• July 30, 2024: In the evening, a peaceful vigil is held outside Southport’s Atkinson arts venue, where flowers are laid in memory of those who died. Shortly after the vigil, a separate protest begins outside the town’s mosque in St Luke’s Road. People throw items towards the mosque, property is damaged and police vehicles are set on fire.
• July 31, 2024: Demonstrators gather in Whitehall, London, for an ‘Enough Is Enough’ protest. Flares and cans are thrown at police and more than 100 people are arrested. Disorder also breaks out in Hartlepool, County Durham, and Aldershot, Hampshire.
• August 1, 2024: Police announce that Rudakubana has been charged with the murders of Bebe, Elsie Dot and Alice, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article. He is not named by police because of his age. He appears in court in Liverpool and Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC rules he can be named, as he is due to turn 18 in a week. He initially smiled on entering the courtroom – then kept his face covered by his sweatshirt for the remainder of the proceedings before the case was adjourned. Later that evening, demonstrators gather outside a hotel in Newton Heath, Manchester.
• August 2, 2024: Three police officers are taken to hospital after disorder in Sunderland.
• August 3, 2024: There are scenes of violence during planned protests across the UK, including in Liverpool, Hull, Nottingham and Belfast.
• August 4, 2024: Disorder continues, including outside a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, where masked demonstrators launch lengths of wood and sprayed fire extinguishers at police officers.
• August 5, 2024: The Government holds an emergency Cobra meeting in the wake of the disorder and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vows to ‘ramp up criminal justice’. That evening, a peaceful vigil is held in Southport, a week on from the killings. Police deal with disorder in Plymouth, Devon and Darlington, County Durham.
• August 7, 2024: Prison sentences for those involved in the unrest begin to be handed out. Derek Drummond, 58, is the first person to be jailed for violent disorder at Liverpool Crown Court, where he is sentenced to three years. More than 100 protests are planned for across the country, with counter-demonstrations taking place, but the majority of police forces report very little trouble.
• October 29, 2024: Merseyside Police announces Rudakubana will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink the next day charged with production of a biological toxin, Ricin, and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.
• October 30, 2024: Rudakubana appears at Westminster Magistrates’ Court via videolink from HMP Belmarsh to face the two new charges. He holds his sweater over the bottom half of his face and does not respond when asked to confirm his name.
• November 13, 2024: Rudakubana appears at Liverpool Crown Court via videolink. He covers his face with his grey sweatshirt and does not speak throughout the hearing. About 20 family members of victims sit in the public gallery. The case is adjourned until December 12, when a preparatory hearing will take place.
• January 20, 2025: Rudakubana appears at Liverpool Crown Court for the first day of his trial where he pleads guilty to all 16 charges, including the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.

The MP for Southport Patrick Hurley has described how the unexpected guilty pleas had caused ‘surprise and shock’ as he reacted to Axel Rudakubana’s admission at Liverpool Crown Court.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Mr Hurley, a Labour MP, said he was pleased the victims’ families will not have to endure the ‘mental torture’ of sitting through a lengthy trial.

He said:

We are all hoping the families get the outcome and justice they need. This isn’t a day for celebration – it is a day to make sure we remember the victims.

This is the moment Southport killer Axel Rudakubana arrived at court this morning before he changed his pleas to guilty on the first day of his trial.

The 18-year-old has been in custody since the murders were carried out on July 29 last year.

Watch our footage below:

The families of the three Southport victims were not at Liverpool Crown Court when Axel Rudakubana changed his pleas to guilty.

Presiding judge Mr Justice Goose said: ‘I am conscious of the fact the families are not here today.’

Deanna Heer KC, prosecuting, confirmed the families had not attended as it was assumed the trial would open on Tuesday.

Mr Justice Goose said he extended his apologies to the families that ‘for that reason they weren’t here to hear him enter his pleas’.

She said she would speak to them before the sentence on Thursday.

Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court from today charged with 16 offences, including three counts of murder.

He has now admitted the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven,

Axel Rudakubana has also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of eight other children and to the attempted murder of Leanne Lucas and Jonathan Hayes.

Axel Rudakubana has also pleaded guilty to having a kitchen knife in a public place.

He also admitted to the production of a biological toxin, ricin, and possession of a document likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, namely a PDF file titled Military Studies in the Jihad against Tyrants: The Al-Qaeda Training Manual.

In relation to the 16 charges read out, Rudakubana replied ‘guilty’ to each one.

Here’s our full story on the website as Rudakubana entered his guilty pleas at Liverpool Crown Court this morning.

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Hello and welcome to ‘s live coverage as Axel Rudakubana pleads guilty to the murder of three young girls in Southport.

The 18-year-old admitted the attack during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on the first day of his trial as he spoke in court for the first time.

Rudakubana, of Banks, Lancashire, was due to stand trial at Liverpool Crown Court from today charged with 16 offences, including three counts of murder.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class at The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on July 29, 2024.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates from this developing story.